


Hunters!

by Montesama314



Category: K-On!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Monster Hunters, Demons, F/F, Gen, High School, Monster Hunters, Monsters, Shoujo-ai, Youkai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 01:54:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11326230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Montesama314/pseuds/Montesama314
Summary: The Light Music Club isn't quite what you might expect... Rated T for a filling platter of action and violence, with a dash of Mitsu and YuiAzu for flavor.





	1. The Club

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: _Thought or Emphasis_ ; **Flashback** ; **_Thought or Emphasis in Flashback_**
> 
> I do not own K-ON!, but I do own this idea, probably spawned by watching anime over the years (and a certain couple fanfictions).
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this different scenario for our favorite little band.
> 
> Read and review.

**K-ON!: Hunters!**

Part I

It was a Monday.

Some loathed the first day of a school week. To them, it promised new lessons to be bored with or outright sleep through in class, new assignments to spend all night on.

For others more optimistic, however, a new week promised new beginnings.

One such optimist was the girl on the roof, standing with an envelope in her hand and a heart fit to burst. On this shining spring afternoon, she had made her decision.

Today, she was going for it.

Today, she was going to tell Mio Akiyama she loved her.

After all, who wouldn't love a girl like Mio? From her beautiful hair, a raven waterfall cascading down her back and cut bangs framing the face; to her flawless, creamy skin; to her eyes, holding back a steel-colored strength like the clouds before a tempest; and of course, a body everyone in school envied—the girl herself looked down to certain assets much smaller than those of her love, and wondered if she was worthy to claim such a goddess.

Yet, all the beauty never got to Mio's head. She never demanded the attention of her classmates, merely attracting it with her brilliance, her self-assured nature, and her kindness. The last of those qualities once led Mio to walk the girl, a transfer student this year, to homeroom, telling her of the school's charms along the way.

She had been smitten ever since.

Now, after weeks of charting Mio's route about the campus, building up the courage, and writing the letter and poem in that envelope, it was time to make her move. She had already placed a note on her desk as the morning ended, sure she would pick it up and head to the roof.

Her friend Chizuru had always told her to speak up a little more often, and by the heavens above, Shizuka Kinoshita would start with this!

She'd tell her lovely Mio-sama the truth, they'd carry their beautiful bond through high school and college, get married (she'd figure that part out later), have a gigantic family (she'd figure that out too), grow old together, and unite their souls as they transcended to the next world...

And nothing would stop Shizuka's dream from coming true! Not even-

“KINOSHITA!”

At last, AT LAST! Her idol, her first and only love, was here!

“You really came!” Shizuka's hand gripped the envelope a little tighter, her fervent hold on the end almost bending her message. She turned around. “Mio-sa-”

Wait.

'Kinoshita'?

Not 'Kinoshita- _san_ ' or even 'Sakura-san'?

Her Mio-sama was too proper, too considerate to speak someone's name without an honorific. The only exceptions were her inner circle, especially-

“T-t-t-Tainaka-san!”

Ritsu Tainaka was a bit famous, too; her hair marked by two tousled, light-brown locks reaching shoulder length, the rest barely tamed under a sun-colored headband none had ever seen removed; her eyes, amber globes with wild light trapped inside; and her figure, not as full as Akiyama's, but toned like an athlete's and dressed in an unkempt uniform, drew eyes from a different crowd.

Currently holding a familiar-looking note was another thing that often drew eyes: Ritsu's left hand, and the arm connected.

Despite her being able to use the limb just fine, everything from the fingers to the shoulder was tightly wrapped in gauze.

None of the general student body knew what it looked like under there, yet everyone had a theory, ranging from an embarrassing scar to the decaying flesh of a zombie. All Ritsu said when asked, though, was that she could never take it off... ever.

But there was yet more to the tomboy, and a smile paired with an incomprehensible aura reminded the poor Shizuka of this.

Despite all her planning, her love-struck gaze had only accounted for one of the couple who sometimes shared the hallways of Sakuragaoka. The first-year had neglected to research a more fearsome facet of Ritsu's famous, or perhaps infamous, reputation.

“Hey, Kinoshita...”

She was the one force that kept everyone's hands off of Mio.

“...Let's have a talk.”

* * *

Everything, even a beginning, must come to an end, and a Monday was no different, the final bell ringing throughout the school. Hundreds of girls departed the building, crushing or picking up a few cherry blossoms along the way.

A few of them, however, had further commitments to the school—clubs. From gymnastics, to student council, to calligraphy, to light music, students found a group with which to share their interests.

Still, the school had a rule for every club, for all students in fact:

No one was allowed to stay on the grounds after sundown.

The famous and infamous found themselves once again heading to their afterschool activity.

“You know, Ritsu, you still haven't told me why you were late for lunch.”

“I did tell ya, Mio. I was...” the bandaged brunette fought down her smirk, “...just taking care of something.”

The ravenette's eyebrow raised. “And just what was that something?”

“...Something.”

Mio sighed. She hated when Ritsu kept secrets from her. They had known each other for this long, and had been through so much...

Like _that_.

Things had changed so much after that day...

* * *

**“Kill... AKIYAMA!”**

**It was small, but so fast... so full of rage... all Mio could see, could feel, was its rage... and her own fear, attacking her heart like the one before her intended.**

**Then, a cry.**

**“NO!”**

**With a sudden push, she fell.**

**A mess of limbs, and fists, and teeth thrashed about, friend from foe unrecognizable.**

**A scream not her own.**

**“AHH!”**

**A messy _CRUNCH_.**

**Then, a scream _all_ her own.**

**“RICCHAN!”**

* * *

_NOT HERE!_

Her mind quickly bailed out of it. There was no need to lose her composure on the way to the club.

_Besides, I'm not that little girl anymore._

Slipping a bit forward to the present, Mio realized that Ritsu's disappearances hadn't really happened until high school, and especially this year. She never got a real answer the last eight times one occurred, though, and she had a feeling she wouldn't get one now either.

Besides, she had a bit of a secret of her own, one she couldn't tell Ritsu. It was... risky. For the team, for school...

They were close, but to tell her...

_I don't think I'll_ ever _be ready for that._

“Mio?” Ritsu nudged her friend's arm; sure, she figured her answer wasn't the best one, but the girl beside her didn't usually take it this hard. “You still here?”

“Huh?... I'm fine.” She chose to change the subject. “Well, hopefully you'll take care of our next job a little faster than that.”

Sensing the mood change, the brunette couldn't help but counter, her hands folding behind her head. “What're ya talkin' about? We handled that thing just fine.”

'That thing' had three heads, a bit different from the usual arrival—and a lot more talkative at that. The  three also had a bickering problem, not knowing whether to “gnaw on their flesh” or “remove their heads and eat the rest,” only made worse with the option of “do them both.”

The girls instead revealed the prize behind door number 4: oblivion.

“We did. But we would have gotten it done sooner if you hadn't have focused on that trick shot. You put two holes in the wall behind it.” Ritsu's strong suit was power, not precision. Others in their little band were a bit better at that.

Admitting that to herself, she merely shrugged. “Well, it's always fixed in the morning, isn't it?”

“I guess...” It was part of the school grounds' charm—literally. Just another precaution.

“And last time I saw, you were still trying out that move of yours too. The Six-Gate... what was it again?”

“The Six-Path Strike.”

“Yeah, that's it.”

Mio sighed, her hand unconsciously reaching for something at her waist before she caught herself. “That was the last thing Megumi tried helping me with.”

Megumi Sokabe was the only one in the club left until the others had arrived, and she and Mio quickly connected over their shared skill. She was a bit of a school idol herself before her junior took her place; smooth brown hair framing eyes of the same color and a soft smile presented a portrait of beauty and poise.

“Sokabe... yeah... poor girl.”

Ritsu was never one of her adoring fans. Sure, the girl was cordial to the rest of the club (back then, only the four and a certain odd advisor), but Ritsu sensed something under the grins, even different from what she felt off of a certain blonde at times. Maybe it wasn't _that_ kind of ability, but Ritsu was usually a good judge of character.

It certainly had _nothing_ to do with how Megumi glanced at Mio during practice.

Nothing at all.

Whatever feelings were had toward Sokabe, the whole group felt her sudden loss. She was the only one to... “depart” from the club's activities in years—and in her senior year, at that. Mio hadn't held Elizabeth quite the same way since.

The ravenette suddenly had an urge to practice. Hopefully Azusa was willing to-

“Ah, senpai!”

Azusa Nakano was mere steps from the door to the club room. Her small stature, curves yet to truly reveal themselves, and the favored style of her dark hair, twin tails, added to the fledgling maturity in her garnet eyes. Like Mio before her, she respected her elders, and always kept her look tidy.

Her uniform was almost always frazzled after club, though, for a certain bubbly reason...

“Hello, Azusa.” paired with “Yo, Nakano.”

The junior reached for the sliding door, but seemed to hesitate.

Ritsu had quickly figured out why. “You know she's gonna smother you the minute you step inside.” She chuckled. “Might as well get it over with.”

The future victim sighed. “You're right.” After a steadying breath, she opened the door.

The club's room had more space than one would expect from standing outside.

A _lot_ more.

It had to be in order to fit a long table made out of collected school desks; a nearby rack for jackets and school bags, with an adjacent one for any club necessities; a fairly sizable cooler (courtesy of a certain blonde) tucked away from any potential foot traffic.

Other things occupied the space, things that were a bit strange for what was thought to be a music club. Sitting farther back from the desk-table was a circular platform about a meter high, a plateau one could guess to be a sparring ground. On the opposite wall of the rack was a long line-up of human-sized and larger dummies meters away from a line, including a few swinging from above on ropes. One could quickly surmise that the area was a shooting range.

At this shooting range, someone took aim. It was another teenage girl, her hair near Ritsu's length and of a similar shade, but straighter, a bang near her forehead pushed back by two yellow pins. She had not taken off her uniform jacket, the sleeves never seeming to be a burden.

She held an old-fashioned bow, the top easily surpassing her height when upright. Strapped over her back was a quiver, the colors blending from a near blood red at the opening and bottom of the pack, to an orange-yellow hue that covered the rest; it all seemed to match the various shades of a sunset. Out of the quiver sprouted feathery fletching the same color as her hairclips, brighter than the yellow on the quiver.

Her posture suggested focus: feet evenly apart, back straight, arm tensed as it held an arrow of wooden shaft and blunted head.

Her eyes, though, were something else. They did not focus on a target, they did not aim in front of her, they simply... _looked._

It was as if the girl was waiting for something.

At this point in her high school life, she had seen this many times... but Azusa was still fascinated. This Yui Hirasawa, the one so steady and still in what she could only guess was a state of zen, was so different from the usual Yui, the girl who could swallow a cake in one sitting, the girl who (according to her sister) often needed to be yanked out of bed for school on Mondays...

The girl who had just sensed her favorite junior walk into the room.

“Azu-nyan!”

She released the bowstring's tension, but had already forgotten her shot as she crushed Azusa in a hug...

...just as the twin-tails expected. Sure, her senior's bow was poking her back, and some brown hair was smashed against her face, but she didn't pull away just yet.

She hardly even noticed when her own arms started to move near Yui's waist, until...

_Am I... starting to like this?_

“AHEM!” With a small shove, she slipped out of the hold, quickly smoothing out her jacket. She could hear Ritsu's barely-stifled giggle in the background (followed by an “Ow! What was that for!”), but chose to ignore it. “Hello, Yui-sen-”

The **POP** made the everyone jump, Azusa back into Yui, who cheerfully took advantage.

The arrow made contact with a small flash of blue light before it faded. The hit was perfect center... and about an inch deep into the target.

“Heh heh!” The absent-minded archer scratched the back of her head. “Sorry, everybody!”

“That was still quite impressive, Yui-chan.”

Yet another girl appeared from seemingly nowhere. Markedly different from the others, wavy blonde hair fell down to her waist, her eyes sister sapphires. She held a plate with cups of steaming tea, already prepared for the others' arrival.

“Yo, Mugi.” A bandaged hand waved at the resident medic, Tsumugi Kotobuki.

“Hello, Ricchan, everyone.” A smile graced Tsumugi's face, its fair skin another sign of her foreign heritage. “I have Baumkuchen cake today.” Sure enough, the ring-shaped cake sat in all of its chocolate-glazed glory. One glance at the dessert, and Ritsu was already at the table, fork in hand.

Mio's palm met her face. “Should've known by now we'd never actually start with practice.”

“We'll get to it.” Her oldest friend spoke with her mouth full.

She let it slide; Ritsu wasn't the one she wanted to spar with first anyway. “Well, Azusa, I guess it's just you and-”

“What she said, Azu-nyan!” The recent escapee of the Hirasawa hold found herself pulled along to a seat right beside her captor. “We'll get to it!”

The younger noirette wavered, looking at the elder standing alone. “I... I don't know...”

“Pleeeeeease?” Yui stroked Azusa's head, hitting two soft spots on the top.

To this day, Azusa never could tell if Yui just showed affection this way, or if she really knew what it did to her junior. In seconds, though, the question disappeared, as did the rest of her mind's thoughts. She released a soft purr she couldn't hold back if she tried.

The soft spots rose from her hair...

...revealing cat ears, _real_ black cat ears that loved to be rubbed. Two cat tails sprouted from under her skirt, waving dazedly in the air.

“Okay.”

The half-nekomata was a living example of the balance between the worlds: the world of the humans and the world of the yōkai, the creatures of supernatural form and power.

While each dimension was normally separate from and uncharted by the other, there were places where their boundaries blurred, places where man and monster could accidentally come face to face, their interactions the basis of legends worldwide. Unfortunately for humans, the portals were unstable, opening and closing like a wind-battered screen door; and many _yōkai_ were quite unfriendly, angry, and, most importantly, deadly.

No one has ever been known to return alive.

One of these places had just so happened to be the site of a certain high school, the worlds meeting at night and parting by morning.

With the knowledge that there were creatures of another world among them, humanity would live in perpetual fear, or try to harness the other beings' strengths for their own purposes, even waging war to claim them. Thankfully, there were those who not only defended the secret, but defended their kind as well with powers all their own.

Some of these powers were the products of training, like Mio's or Yui's, allowing them to harness their latent spiritual energies.

Others were the products of accident, like Ritsu's—yes, accident, as she would refuse to call the events of that day a tragedy.

Still others, like Azusa's, were the products of birth; not all of the other world sought blood or power, but adventure or asylum, like her father.

Whatever the reason, five of these young ladies had found themselves banded together in Sakuragaoka's Light Music Club. It was a perfectly harmless cover, being a simple music appreciation group.

When asked why the school didn't use the Occult Club, their advisor Sawako Yamanaka explained simply:

“That would've been too obvious.”

The girls found their skills grow sharper and their bonds grow closer with every sundown, with every enemy they faced...

But they were not prepared for what happened this night.

Indeed, the events of tonight, outstanding even for these supernaturally-strengthened students, would sink into their memory for years to come...

**To be continued...**


	2. Night Falls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: _Thought or Emphasis_ ; **Flashback** ; **_Thought or Emphasis in Flashback ___** _ ___
> 
> __I don't own _K-ON!_. I also don't own any ointment for what's under Ritsu's wrappings._ _
> 
> __Read and review._ _

**K-ON!: Hunters!**

Part II

A silent night began at Sakuragaoka. No more did the footfalls and chatter of busy students occupy the paths. No more did bells call the end or start of the day's lessons. No more did groundskeepers tend the sizable lawn surrounding the building. The only thing making a stir was the wind, scattering pink petals into the green grasses.

It was the calm before the storm.

A light buzz, resembling the unzipping of a coat, filled the air. On the south end, not far from the gate leading outside, a small speck of light appeared. No candle, no flame, not even the moon was its source.

It simply _appeared_.

As the buzz grew louder, the light expanding larger, the flickering becoming a stable brightness, until...

A thunderclap.

The little light exploded, a shining, amorphous hole in space left behind.

Somewhere in the east, the phenomenon happened again. A light, a thunderclap, a hole.

Another, and another, and more showed up in all four directions.

The holes— _portals_ —opened all over campus.

“I've never seen this many before.”

In the club room, Mugi spoke for the group, watching the former whiteboard that doubled as a mystical map of the school. Yellow dots represented the portals; red, the monsters. Splotches of red peppered the screen. Two or three in one night was the usual, but not nine, each bringing one or more yōkai to the human world.

“Neither have I.” Sawako stared at the oddity, adjusting the glasses that gleamed with curiosity. Though no longer in the field directly, becoming a teacher allowed her to slip back into her alma mater and help watch over a new generation of monster hunters.

She looked to the group, standing behind her beside the desk-table. “Given the situation, I want you in two teams for this, one in the north, one in the south.”

“What teams?” Mio asked. While Sawako led them all from homeroom, she was the one who usually headed the group on the field. It seemed that wouldn't matter this time.

“You choose.”

“I PICK AZU-NYAN!” A certain archer swiftly claimed her partner, raising her hand as if she were in class—but then looked to the girl herself. “If she wants to, I mean...”

Azusa nodded. She just couldn't say no to that face.

“YEAH! The YuiAzu Project is on the move!”

A sweat drop formed on the second half's forehead. “That sounds more like a band name, senpai...”

Mio watched them have fun, before an arm nudged hers.

“What do you say, Mio?” Roguish, expectant amber inquired. “Ready to fight with me?”

To respond, she walked off to the coat rack, turning to the right of her jacket's hook.

“Not yet, Ritsu.”

To the right hung a sword, a simple katana. The sheath was much like Yui's quiver, blending in three tones. It started with a peerless black for most of the length, but changed to a band of reddish-brown after the gentle curvature, finally sliding to yellow at the sword's simple circular hilt. The katana's handle shared the same hues as the sheath, the yellow there meeting the other side of the hilt. Altogether, the design resembled a burst of sunlight in the darkness.

Mio named it Elizabeth. Sure, her parents raised an eyebrow at the foreign name—and Ritsu laughed when she heard it was being named at all, to the tune of “It's a weapon, not a teddy bear!”—but the title was always the user's choice, according to its creator, someone her parents didn't name but referred to as an “old colleague”.

Judging by the rush she felt when she touched and tied Elizabeth to her waist the first time, the sword seemed to like it.

“Now, I'm ready.”

Even now, she felt it connect with her; she wondered if Ritsu ever had this feeling with that... She let it subside, and turned to her team.

“Is everyone else-” She halted her question, as their weapons and bodies already waited at the door. “Alright.”

She took point, opening the door.

“Let's go.”

The door shut behind them as they left, causing them to miss a belated, “Good luck, everyone” from their least outspoken member of the team.

Mugi sat with Sawako, ever quiet, ever patient. She knew her purpose.

She just hoped they wouldn't need her before the night was over.

* * *

A few seconds later, on the way to the south entrance:

“So, what do you think it is this time?”

“Quit joking around, Ritsu. This is not the time.”

“C'mon, Mio, it's the perfect time.” She stopped her run near a cherry tree. “So what do you think? Spider-legs? Horns? Extra heads?”

Mio rolled her eyes. “Does it matter what they look like? If they're hostile, we destroy them.” She frowned, looking distant. “It's what we've trained to do for years.”

Ritsu sighed. “Yeah, and for all those years, what've I been telling ya?” She waited, to get no response. “You have to loosen up a little.”

Mio knew that, of course, but every time she heard that, she found herself looking at Ritsu's left arm...

...just like now.

“What?” Ritsu followed her gaze. “Geez, Mio, I've been telling you _that_ too!” With her right hand, she gently pulled up her old friend's chin. “Look at me!” They locked eyes. “It's not your fault! We were just kids for crying out loud! You didn't even know your parents were hunters!” She huffed out the frustration. “And besides...”

She grabbed Mio's hand with her bandaged own.

“Remember what I promised?”

The noirette's visage softened. “Of course I do...”

* * *

**“S'okay, Mio!”**

**Though lying in bed, the ten-year-old flexed a tiny muscle and flashed a gigantic smile.**

**“As long as I got this arm, I-”**

* * *

“Hey, look at that.”

Hearing Ritsu, Mio flashed forward to the present.

“We have company.”

The two spotted a squad of seven oni, their navy-shaded skin melding well with the night in which they loved to fight; while wearing loin cloths and other garments resembling pants, none of them wore armor, perhaps as a show of confidence in their strength.

Like many of the foes the girls faced, these yōkai stood like men, a few of them slightly hunched by the weight of their own muscles. They easily approached three meters in height at the top of their bald heads. Some of their burly arms held weapons with no other purpose than to turn the target into a mass of bloody chunks.

“YOU THERE!”

One of the weapon-wielders, whose beady yellow eyes searched for a future kill, sported a single-bladed axe about the size of Mio herself on his side.

“Where is your leader?”

“Hmm... I suppose that's me.” The girl was unperturbed by his arms, both muscled and otherwise. She had worked hard to force down fear for her own life. “State your business here.”

“We are here to conquer.”

“Of course you are.” A certain brunette in the background muttered.

“You're not conquering anything.” Mio continued. “Turn back while the door is still there.” Just in the distance, a wispy way back still hung in midair.

“I do not think I will, human.” He looked down (even further) and noted a black length at her side. “That is your weapon?”

She did not look down with him, just in case. “It is.”

“HAHAHAHA!” The others began to chortle behind him, causing Ritsu to roll her eyes.

The almost leathery skin on his face tightened into a fanged smile as he gripped the handle of his favorite tool. “Little girl with your toy sword...”

He charged, his blue bicep bulging, the light glinting off the deadly edge. “I WILL SHOW YOU THE END OF A TRUE DEALER OF DEATH!”

Mio wordlessly grasped Elizabeth's hilt, her eyes shadowed. Neither of them liked that comment...

“Heh, shouldn't have called her that.”

...And Ritsu knew it.

But the oni didn't know, nor did he care. He didn't see the smallest sliver of steel reveal itself. He could only see victory, and the mess he would make as he swung his axe; it and the earth met, stirring up a column of dust. Ritsu and the other beasts waited with trepidation, too interested to embark on their own missions.

In seconds, the cloud was gone, the monster now staring at a small fissure left behind by the impact—but neither blood nor corpse joined the dirt.

“Where did she-”

One of his kin informed him. “Captain! Turn around!”

He did so, only to find the girl unscathed, her sword already ceasing its soft glow and returning to the sheath.

“I... missed?”

She hadn't even turned as she replied to him.

“Not just that...”

Her blade continued to slide.

“You lost.”

The sword and sheath met with a soft click, and two simple words.

**“ Parallel Paths.”**

Two dark-red parallel streaks of blood spurted from the braggart—one spanning the throat, the other the belly. Just before his body and soul parted and he turned into ash, he had just enough life left in his body to hear:

“I'm not a little girl.”

The oni stared in shock at this gray-eyed beast before them. The same one as before cried out for his “C-c-c-CAPTAIN!”

“Well, guess I can start now.”

“Huh?” The cyan combatant slid his vision to the right—a second too late, as a fist planted into his face.

Both he and the fist's thrower hit the ground, one grinning at the other landing on his side. It didn't last long, however, as the others raised their arms at the new opponent and forced her to leap back.

“CRUSH HER!” came one bare-handed brute.

“DESTROY THE HUMAN!” claimed one with a spear.

“GO FOR THE WEAKNESS!” Another unarmed demon charged for her left.

“Ugh, are you guys stupid, or what?” Ritsu only shook her head and raised the wrapped arm. “Didn't you just see me? I just pounded that one over there with this hand.”

Said oni was just starting to rise, his cheek bruised (apparently, blue skin bruised to a plum-like purple) and face scrunched with anger.

“Apparently not hard enough, though.”

Mio saw this and prepared to strike again. “Do you need some help?”

“Nah, don't think so.” Ritsu's right hand reached under her left arm to a tag hidden by her shirt sleeve...

“You better back away, though.”

...and pulled.

The gauze unfurled, sending out a pulse of heat that turned the grass at the brunette's feet from green to brown. As the binds and seal disintegrated, Ritsu's “injury” was revealed.

Starting at her shoulder, the slight tan she sported stopped at a sliver of pale, ashy gray, like the aftermath of a volcanic eruption.

Then, it became something else entirely—the arm's remainder consisted of a reddish-black, hardened substance resembling still-cooling lava. Cracks big and small spread throughout, creating rivers of red-orange “blood” that seemed to feed from a rupture on the upper arm's outward side.

That wound, the reminder of her sacrifice that fateful day, became Ritsu's greatest weapon.

That wound, and the rivers of hot liquid spawned from it, ignited the air—and spread infrequent arcs of fire all over the limb.

“It's about to get hot around here!”

The noirette had seen this before, and had heard it before too. “Ugh, that line is so corny.”

“Really? _I'm_ the corny one, Miss Call-out-my-attacks?” The one-armed menace forced her face into a serious glare. “'Parallel Paths'.” She backed out of Mio-mode with a smirk. “You sounded like an anime character—whoa!” She dodged a club, sending a burning palm into the user's forearm and setting it alight.

“Grrr...” Ignoring the screams of the enemy, Mio resisted the urge to give Ritsu's head a lump...

_No! There's no time for this!_

She forced the impulse down—for now (she could always do it later). “If you don't need me... I'm going to check somewhere else.” She didn't need any special abilities to know, “Something's not right about tonight.”

“I hear ya. There's gotta be someone leading them all, 'cause these guys are total idiots!” Seeing that she provoked one to the front, the brunette focused heat into her hand, leaping up to intercept an incoming spear. “ORAH!” One chop, and the sound and smell of splintering firewood filled the air.

Mio began to run, but paused. One oni thought this was the opportunity to grab her and smash her in his hands—a foolish mistake, as Elizabeth removed those offending objects before going for a leg, then the head.

Ritsu sensed her hesitation (under the minor spikes of killing intent, of course). “I'll catch up, okay?” A flaming jab penetrated the now staff-holding oni's chest, downing him in one blow.

Her partner murmured, “Fine...”

—and turned back with stormy eyes, a gaze Ritsu still felt through the still fading ash cloud.

“But if you die, I'll bring you back and cut you down myself!”

For an instant, Ritsu almost looked afraid, but quickly retorted all the same. “Yep. Anime character, and a tsundere too.”

Mio groaned.

That urge to punch just went up a notch.

_Just focus on the enemy, Mio... just focus on the enemy._

The debris gone, Ritsu could now see the black-haired beauty walk away, with a bit of terse anger in her step.

She smiled; the brunette's trick to get Mio's mind off of her worked. _Don't worry about me. We're both plenty strong, right?_

With a bit of concentration, she formed a fireball in her hand, thrusting it at another demon, who managed to swat it away with his man-sized broadsword. She rushed in while he was open and went for the uppercut, which sent him sprawling to roll out the flames on his chin and torso.

Her confidence surged. _I'll be right next to you real soon._

“HEY, IT'S A HUMAN!”

She turned around—to see a group of fifteen new friends headed her way.

...Or not.

“Alright then...”

Any doubt, any fear hid behind the curtain of her playful-turned-maniacal grin. With another pulse of heat and a stomp, she opened her arms and stance wide.

“BRING IT ON!”

* * *

A figure walked a silent hallway, undetected after slipping in with another group of its comrades—well, the figure certainly wouldn't call them that. It had other, less flattering names for them.

Its hand glided across a trophy case, not even minding the light layer of dust; it had seen far worse where it had been prior to tonight. The glint in its eyes as it looked at the awards seemed almost nostalgic, though it recognized none of the names.

The figure walked on, knowing that some of the squads outside would follow it inside eventually. They may have had brawn, but weren't exactly the perfect fighting force; inevitably, there would be stragglers and wanderers, especially as the death toll rose. The figure was surprised their little village stayed together as long as it had, even before the figure took over.

It entered the door to a room. Unlocked? How sloppy of the caretakers. Someone like itself could barge in and use the place for any old purpose.

The purpose it had, for example.

Nice and spacious, the ground free of obstructions...

This room would do nicely.

It had waited a long time for this. It only hoped the object of its interest was ready.

It inhaled...

and released.

* * *

Mio flicked off the blood of another four opponents, easy to do when your sword is coated with your own soul's energy.

The resulting ashes blew away with a gentle breeze. A fissure remained in the ground in front of Mio; she put a little too much power into that attack.

Just as she sheathed her blade, she felt it.

She was one of the few humans who had the sense, even if her perception was imperfect. It was imprecise when it came to the oni, there being so many, but this one was so outstanding, so unique...

Her hunch was correct.

“I knew it.”

She headed back toward the school, to face the threat within.

**To be continued...**


	3. Night Darkens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: _Thought or Emphasis_ ; **Flashback** ; _**Thought or Emphasis in Flashback**_
> 
> I don't own _K-ON!_ I do, however, own a beautiful bass... It's shiny, clean, kinda beautiful... it's a little scaly, though.
> 
> What? You thought I meant a bass _guitar_? No way, the fish! I'd hold onto it a little longer, but it starting to stink up the joint.
> 
> While I air this place out, you guys can read and review.

**K-ON!: Hunters!**  
  
Part III

  
On the north side of campus, Yui and Azusa had already begun their battle. The junior's attempt to speak with them, after all, didn't go so well...

* * *

**Stop, yōkai! You have entered the world of the humans." Azusa stepped forward, staring up at the nearest immigrant; she was no Mio, but she mustered up a facade of leadership all the same. "Who are you, and why are you here?"  
  
"You stand tall for such a... _tiny_ creature." The one who responded, a piece of armor strapped to his left shoulder, stood just as proudly as another certain squad captain. This one was less muscled than the other, however; instead the blue bruiser  was more a wall of bulk, his belly hanging over his belt. "We, little one, are of the Blue Oni clan of the Eastern Valley! My brothers and I will not stop until-"  
  
"Ooh, so they're blue this time!"  
  
Yui made herself known to the crowd. Apparently, her brain had finally sized up her opponent...  
  
...and she was amused.  
  
"He's like a giant blueberry!"  
  
The monster gritted his teeth; he had heard similar names before from a few fools in the past—all of them currently deceased. “Y-y-you...”  
  
“Senpai!” Azusa was flabbergasted. “I was trying to resolve this peacefully!”  
  
“Well, he is...” Yui pouted. “And besides, I can see his evil.” She spoke of his dark heart the same way she would if she saw spinach in his teeth—with unabashed honesty. “He's gonna try and kill both of us.”  
  
“You...” Meanwhile, the oni's anger had finally boiled over. “YOU WILL DIE!”  
  
“See?”  
  
Azusa sighed, her cat ears and tails sprouting, her nails shifting to claws.  
  
“Darn it.”**

* * *

Her first few victims found that what Azusa lacked in size, she made up for in strength. The latest felt the sting of a leaping kick to the face; a swipe of her claw followed, slicing out the throat. She landed on all fours, he on his knees, the latter already doomed.  
  
She had to thank her father for the fighting lessons. He had told her she might awaken other abilities, even explained that some of those like him could harness fire—but he was unsure just what her repertoire would be, since she was a rarity among her kind.  
  
She was a bit afraid, she had to admit, of finding out just how deep the yōkai blood ran, of discovering what would happen if she pushed her limits just a bit too much. For now, however, as long as she kept striking vitals, she figured she'd be fine.  
  
Besides, she had her senpai, who just so happened to be blowing enemies away arrow by arrow behind her. The explosions that followed her shots never shocked Azusa on the battlefield; she was too focused on keeping herself alive.  
  
She cut hands and legs to slow mobility, leaped on shoulders and faces while they were distracted or stunned, shredded their heads and necks. It all was a little grisly, but the gag reflex never came, with them turning to ash at death anyway.  
  
Unlike her junior's hesitance, Yui let her instincts take over. Perhaps something had passed down in her family as well, but all she knew was that, thanks to a certain bespectacled classmate's random suggestion, she found her niche.

* * *

 **“I don't _know_ what you should pick, Yui! You could... uh...” Looking at the wall behind her old friend, Nodoka spotted a poster for the archery club. “...shoot arrows all day, for all I care! I just don't want to see you a NEET, okay?”  
  
“Hmm... okay!” She pumped a fist, eye sparkling. “I'll do that!” Sure, Yui may not have known where the club was or even remembered what floor she was on, but she ran off all the same, certain to accomplish her mission.  
  
“Wait, what?”**  


* * *

The club had kicked her out on the first day (after one of their targets exploded), but with a little guidance from Sawako, she found a new home with the light music club soon after.  
  
Hearts, heads, stomachs, she did not truly see them—she only saw targets, spots into which her arrows could sink. Still, with her firing one at a time, they fell at a slower rate than Azusa's.  
  
Said girl was finally facing the last one in her direction, one of the few with enough brains to be careful. The surprisingly lanky oni had held back, twin swords at the ready, just to face this intriguing opponent.  
  
“You're mine!”  
  
Before she knew it, she bared her teeth and hissed. Swipe met swipe, Azusa unable to get past the blue blade-wielder's guard; a high knife jab, chest slash, another swipe at the head, then leg sweep were all avoided. He returned the favor, forcing her to block a set of four... at double the pace.  
  
He soon forced her onto defense, which she had to do in order to steer the fight away from Yui, but it pushed her ever closer to the battlefield's boundary...  
  
_Too fast! I can't block it all... I need an opening...  
  
There!_  
  
In the slightest window, she struck, grazing one wrist and forcing him to use a single sword, but the other grazed her stomach, enough force behind it to knock her back. She thrust her claws into the ground to break her fall. She glanced down; her shirt was cut, but no blood emerged.  
  
Another swing, and she jumped back—right into the wall, causing her to gasp.  
  
He was on her, weapon held high. Her reflexes would be her only salvation.  
  
“I won't let you!”  
  
At the flash of metal, Azusa moved.  
  
“AGH!”  
  
Slipping out of her deadly zen state ever so slightly, Yui destroyed another opponent and glanced back at her teammate, chocolate eyes widening at the sight.  
  
“AZU-NYAN!”  
  
Both she and the swordsmonster were frozen in place, locked in a deadly clash of strengths. The kitten kōhai's muscles strained to resist the blade, blood already trickling down from between her palms, while the other pushed ever harder to split her skull in two.  
  
Azusa might have been able to catch it, but not hold it back for much longer.  
  
Another oni saw this, and chose to act. The human's aim was true, he knew this. She was strong, just like their leader, and was not to take lightly; his eradicated team was proof of that. Still, even if he did fall, he would at least drag the other with him.  
  
As soon as the one before him fell and the explosion died down, the last monster pulled back his spear... and threw.  
  
Yui fired and made him disappear, but what he launched was a different matter, heading on a collision course with her twin-tailed teammate.  
  
Now two targets lay before the amiable archer—in two different directions.  
  
She had to make her choice: the projectile, or the partner?  
  
Azusa, meanwhile, was nearing the end of her rope—and her patience, as her enemy claimed how he'd take her skin as a trophy. Still, while her arms were getting weaker, her spirit clutched onto a glimmer of hope. If she could just hold him for a few more seconds, her senpai could finish off that wave and-  
  
In an instant of cunning, the yōkai pulled his sword back, causing her surprised form to lose balance and grip.  
  
Now on one knee, she could only watch as that flash appeared one last time before her eyes...  
  
She shut them.  
  
She was not ready to face the end, to disappear like many of her father's family, to face a similar fate that she dealt this very night.  
  
To be on the other side of the finishing blow, after finally understanding why she always felt different, after meeting friends who accepted her, tails and all...  
  
After meeting someone like...  
  
_No!_  
  
Then a sound crashed into her ears, a sound she knew well.  
  
**POP.**  
  
She opened her eyes. With a tiny thump, the sword hit the ground behind her would-be killer, slipping right out of his opened hands. His head was gone, his body soon turning to dust in the wind.  
  
Azusa sat in a moment of relief. Claws receded to their proper place. Thanks to her inheritance, the cuts on her hands closed slowly, and painfully, but surely.  
  
Her part of the battle was over—for now, at least.  
  
“Thank you, senpai.” Her heart began to calm while she huffed for breath... “You sa-”  
  
...Then it skipped a beat.  
  
She gasped for a different reason than oxygen when her sight finally settled on a certain someone. The person's legs had begun giving up on her as she vainly reached for something in her back.  
  
“YUI-SENPAI!”  
  
The half-nekomata caught her before she hit the ground, removing the spear and remains of her quiver without hesitation. A closer look revealed the jacket's left side soaked in blood. A crimson gash formed a line starting near the collar bone, moving down the shoulder blade, and ending a few centimeters from the spine.  
  
Yui wouldn't be wearing this jacket anymore.  
  
The life-carrying liquid stained Azusa's hands, and soon her own uniform as her fallen teammate's face leaned on her breast.  
  
She had never seen so much before...  
  
“Hey, Azu-nyan.” Yui slowly forced herself back upright. A line of red started to leak from her mouth, but a tiny smile still appeared. “You doing okay?”  
  
“Am _I_ doing okay? You have a hole in your back!” Azusa dared not look down at the evidence, as her tears already began clouding her vision. “Don't move, okay? I'll call Mugi-senpai...” She tapped once on the miraculously untouched talisman in her jacket pocket, opening the channel for communication.  
  
_“This is Homeroom-”_  
  
“MUGI-SENPAI! Yui-senpai is...” She heard the clamor of footsteps; more were coming her way. “JUST HURRY!”  
  
_“I dreaded this...”_ A pause signified her steeling her will with a breath. _“I'm on my way.”_  
  
“I feel really tired, Azu-nyan.” Yui's eyes lidded, her posture wavering.  
  
The junior clutched her senior's hand, a desperate lifeline for the both of them. “No, stay awake!” She would have cursed if not for her own formality. _Why didn't I learn any medical techniques?_  
  
“Kay, Azu-nyan. I'll try.” She really was; her brow furrowed with all she could muster, but her eyes just weren't the same tools now as they were moments ago.  
  
_Why is Azu-nyan so fuzzy?  
  
And why does she sound so far away?_  
  
“But it's really hard...”  
  
The brunette's grip slackened.  
  
“Just keep trying, Yui-senpai. Just...” _Anything to keep her awake..._ “Let's talk!” The brunette only faintly heard the choking in the mixed-blood's voice.  
  
She sleepily tilted her head. “Talk about what?”  
  
“Uh...” Azusa's sharpened hearing could still detect the threat in the distance, but that didn't matter right now. All that mattered was the hand loosening just a little bit more in hers. “Anything you want!”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
Yui's stare was still distant, but not due to her current state; they instead looked to an earlier time.  
  
“I remember when you first came, Azu-nyan. You were so shy when you showed us your powers. Heh he- _hak!_ ” A giggle turned into a bloody cough, which she ignored. “You were so cute, I couldn't help but pet you.”  
  
“I remember that.” Azusa _certainly_ remembered that, and probably always would. “That was when you gave me that name.” Even in this situation, her cheeks flushed.  
  
“But you looked kinda scared, too.” Yui's smile wilted ever so slightly. “You thought we'd get rid of you 'cause of your yōkai blood, didn't you?”  
  
The half-human stiffened. The archer's observant eyes did their work on more than targets, it seemed. “You... saw that?”  
  
“Uh huh.” She tried to nod, but only succeeded in falling onto her kōhai's shoulder.  
  
“Stay awake, senpai!” The twin-tails tried to shake her awake (gently), but the brunette's body was nothing more than weight.  
  
“I always believed in you, though.” Her voice was a whisper as her breath shortened. “You're a... you're...  a good monster girl.”  
  
“Yui-senpai, please!” Her begging was in vain, Yui's eyes already closed.  
  
“I'm glad we're... friends... Azu...”  
  
Then, quiet.  
  
“Yui-senpai?”  
  
Nothing.  
  
“Yui-senpai?”  
  
The hand holding her own was already slack. Azusa lifted it, then released.  
  
It flopped to the ground...  
  
_...lifeless._  
  
“No.”  
  
She gripped her skull, her heartbeat pounding in her ears.  
  
_It can't be._  
  
“Senpai...” The tears in her eyes scattered everywhere with the shaking of her head. “...senpai...”  
  
_It CAN'T!_  
  
“No, no, no!”  
  
Yet, there she lay, in her lap, head on her shoulder, unmoving.  
  
And just this once...  
  
Azusa embraced her.  
  
Blood be damned, body be damned, boundaries be damned, she held her close, desperately trying to ward off that cold, to fill that void quickly opening up in her heart.  
  
It didn't work.  
  
Soon, it was all she felt. She had only known Yui for a year and a half, yet losing her made her feel like this...  
  
And she knew who to blame.  
  
Yui-senpai would still be here if Azusa was faster... if she was stronger, if she had enough power to beat him... and somehow, her senpai believed in _her_? Trusted _her_?  
  
Ui had known of her sister's ability, and of her sister's friend; the younger Hirasawa trusted her too.

* * *

**“Onee-chan has a very special gift, but she isn't always careful, Azusa-chan. I won't always be able to look out for her.” Ui's gentle smile dimmed, her eyes tilting away from her sibling's teammate. “With the path she's on, I don't know if I'll have the strength. But...” She took a breath. “But I think you do! So please...”  
  
To the twin-tails' shock, Ui bowed.  
  
“Be there for her.”**

* * *

Even if Azusa survived the night, how could she possibly face the girl tomorrow?  
  
Now, a new feeling entered: Guilt, gnawing at the edges of that hole inside like a worm in an apple.  
  
“Azusa-chan.”  
  
Finally, Tsumugi was here. She had entered with her clothes littered with cuts, obviously the result of strikes both dodged and received. Even her curls were intermittently splotched with blood...  
  
...yet her skin at the points of attack was unscathed, looking fresh even, and the liquid in her hair turned into vapor.  
  
It was a manifestation of her power, and a self-appointed duty; to be not a deliverer of death, but a restorer of life. Like Yui, she had no idea if the gift was from her wealthy family's ancestry or a simple twist of fate, but ever since she healed her “sister” Sumire's hand, the Kotobuki heiress had found her calling.  
  
Azusa perceived the arrival, and expressed herself to the only one around.  
  
“It's all my fault.”  
  
The blonde reached out. “Let me take her-”  
  
“NO!”  
  
Mugi felt an object cut across the air and pulled back her arm. The cat kōhai was on edge now: her fangs bared, dark whisker marks on her face, her slitted eyes bloodshot from the crying, and one hand's claws extended. “She's like this because I was weak! She sacrificed herself to save me! I won't leave her alone!”  
  
“She won't be alone, Azusa-chan.” The scratches on the blonde's forearm were already fading away. “She'll be with me, remember? I just need you to-”  
  
“NO ONE TOUCHES MY SENPAI!”  
  
“AZUSA!”  
  
_Smack._  
  
She snapped out of it, if only barely, from the sting on her cheek.  
  
“I'm sorry about that, but I needed you to listen.” Tsumugi felt a bit dirty after making someone hurt, but moved on. “I may be able to save her, but only if you  </i>let me take her</i>.”  
  
A moment of silence, then,  
  
“Please... help her.”  
  
“I will.” Mugi stepped over to Yui's side. With a breath and a bit of mental focus, her hands gave off the slightest white glow before she laid them over her now-levitating patient.  
  
Azusa backed away. She would give Yui up, for now; to get her back, she knew she'd do anything.  
  
“HUMANS!”  
  
Her cat ears twitched. The enemy was here; still blue, still bloodthirsty. To the twin-tailed teen's eyes, they all shared the face of the one who almost killed her, the one Yui-senpai risked her life to kill.  
  
It was then that Azusa realized something. It wasn't simply her weakness that led to the hollow feeling in her chest... something else, some _one_ else made things turn out this way.  
  
It was-  
  
“YOU!”  
  
Something within her... snapped.  
  
“ _ALL_ OF YOU!”  
  
A wind whipped around the young girl, building with her rage; an aura of spiritual energy, blue with strips of black, leaked from her very pores.  
  
She felt it now, that other side; like a body of water she hesitated to dip into, taking out cups at a time; now she let herself bathe in it. The power she feared at first, she now happily accepted.  
  
The oni perceived it as well, a unique sight for their race.  
  
“What... that power!”  
  
“But Leader said they were just humans?”  
  
Her hair snapped out of the bands, unleashing and flaring with the aura. Her posture shifted to all fours to brace for the next changes.  
  
The bones in her face shifted as well, black fur covering up the furious, feline visage, and soon the rest of her enlarging body. The darkened marks on her face had disappeared under the fur; actual whiskers replaced them. With another burst of energy, her ripped uniform vanished.  
  
“That's no human...”  
  
A five-foot-long cat, as dark as a starless night, stood between the yōkai and her teammates. The tips of her tails exuded a soft blue and black flame. Growling, she bared her fangs once more; like whips, her tails snapped at the air, azure arcs leading to a tiny explosion.  
  
_CRACK!_  
  
“That's a nekomata!”  
  
The two-tailed monster cat formerly known as Azusa Nakano glared, garnet gems aglow.  
  
**“You hurt Yui-senpai... _my_ senpai... you tried to take away my heart...”**  
  
Twin fires surging, she launched at her prey...  
  
...and roared.  
  
**“NOW I CLAW OUT YOURS!”**  
  
\------------------  
  
“GAAAH!”  
  
“YAAAH!”  
  
“DAMN YOUUUUUUU...”  
  
Mio sheathed her sword as three more demons became dust; they were a few wanderers from outside, it seemed.  
  
With each step closer to that power she sensed minutes ago, the opposition had grew much thinner, practically nonexistent. She wondered whether she had simply been lucky all this time, or if Sawako had broken her promise to be a mentor only and handled a few.  
  
Moreover, the power hadn't even left the area.  
  
It must have wanted her to find it.  
  
She obliged, ending up at the door to the auditorium. As she contemplated cutting the door down in case someone was willing to surprise her, a calm voice advised her.  
  
“The door is unlocked.”  
  
She entered the room, senses alert for an attack from behind. Feeling nothing, she focused what was before her: the figure hanging in the shadows, standing just outside one of the ceiling's lights.  
  
With a flick of her thumb, Mio let show a sliver of Elizabeth's skin. “Show yourself!”  
  
“Of course! That was the point of all this, you see... to test your skills.”  
  
“Our... skills?”  
  
“Them?” By tone of voice, it was as if the figure had forgotten about the others. “Oh, no, not their skills, _your_ skills. I knew that you of all people would be the one to reach me.”  
  
The noirette's eyes squinted. “You... know me?”  
  
“Of course I know you! I'm only...” The adversary stopped, and sighed in realization. “I can't believe you don't recognize my voice anymore. After all we've been through together... after what happened the last time we parted...”  
  
The figure stepped into the light.  
  
“How could you forget me?”  
  
Mio froze.  
  
“It can't be...”  
  
Her uniform was marred with dried blood, the remainder of her jacket now something of a cape draping her shoulders. The ribbon that indicated her year in school was long gone.  
  
Her hair seemed a shade darker, the winds of the other world adding a fine layer of dirt she did not care to clean before her arrival. The red hairclip that used to hold a bang back was gone; resembling her junior's style, brown locks fell freely down her spine, the bang now hanging squarely in her forehead's center.  
  
Her eyes no longer possessed the calm Mio knew.  
  
What replaced it was something the ravenette had only seen in fleeting instants, like sparks of a starting fire. When they trained, there was just enough of it to make Mio put up her guard, just enough for her fingertips to grace Elizabeth's hilt. On the field, her grasp of it was even vaguer, since the source had never pointed it in her direction.  
  
Now, however, she could see it, could _feel_ it nipping at her very form.  
  
“Hello, Mio-chan.”  
  
In the girl's eyes...  
  
...was the intent to kill.

“Hello, Megumi.”

**To be continued...**


	4. Night's End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: _Thought or Emphasis_ ; **Flashback** ; **_Thought or Emphasis in Flashback_**
> 
> I don't own _K-ON!_. I also don't own a sword, or skills with a sword, nor a cute Japanese brunette with a bandaged arm who probably loves me.
> 
> Will Mio manage to have them all by the end of this?
> 
> You'll find out once you read and review.

**K-ON!: Hunters!**  
  
Part IV

For the living, there exist two worlds: one of the humans, and one of the yōkai, creatures of strange form and supernatural power.

While normally separate and uncharted by the other, there exist places where their boundaries blur, where man and monster can meet, their past interactions the groundwork for myths and legends worldwide.  
  
But the crossroads between the worlds are unstable, and the yōkai, like humans, are diverse and unpredictable as well.  
  
No human has ever been known to return alive...  
  
Until tonight.  
  
Megumi Sokabe, former student of class 3-1, former president of the Light Music Club and former leader of Sakuragaoka High School's faction of monster hunters, stood before Mio Akiyama in the flesh.  
  
“You're alive.”  
  
“Yes, I am, Mio-chan.” Megumi smiled. “And not without a lot of work, let me tell you!”  
  
The junior wasn't amused, her right hand still on the sheath. “What are you doing alive? _How_ are you alive?” Her grip tightened. “And why are you doing this?”  
  
The smile dropped. “I just told you: a lot of work. We'll get to the last question, but for now, let me tell you my story.  
  
“See, when that dragon... lizard... whatever it was grabbed me before it ran into the portal, he didn't actually kill me—or at least, I didn't let him.” One corner of her mouth turned upwards, bemused. “I suppose I should at least thank you four for softening him up, shouldn't I?”  
  
Mio's face went unchanged.  
  
“Well, that's rude of you. You're supposed to say 'you're welcome.'” Her disapproval got no reaction either, so she continued. “Anyway, as the adrenaline rush was wearing off, I looked back, and the door home was already sealed shut. I waited in the area, but you know how unpredictable those portals can be.”  
  
Still nothing came in reply; Megumi took it as yet another sign to continue.  
  
“I knew I wouldn't be able to last long there in the open, so I went to find some shelter. You don't know how it felt—looking around every corner, checking every shadow for the next thing that could kill me.... Ha ha.” The laugh seemed weary rather than mirthful. “It may come as a shock to you, but they don't seem to like us humans on their turf.  
  
“Eventually, though, I got used to it, and I recalled something I knew all along, something that helped me survive. What gets you through isn't the hope that someone else will help you...” A frown flickered onto her face, before the old visage returned.  
  
She reached over her right shoulder, to the black and white-striped handle of her sword, in a plain-looking sheath. She began to pull, revealing 90 centimeters of Japanese steel—a longsword, an _ōdachi_.  
  
“It's power—your _own_ power—and the conviction to use it.”  
  
She looked nonchalantly beyond the room. “Those fools out there, they respect power. I had to kill a few to get them to see mine, but they did, enough to throw their lives away in the eyes of their superior.” She recalled her sudden rise to power. “Taking out the village leader definitely helped, I'd say. Such a heavy sleeper really should have had better guards!”  
  
The blade-holding brunette changed the subject. “So, how are things? Are you president in my place? You did seem to have a bit of a shy streak in you, so maybe you aren't, but time can change a girl, am I right?”  
  
The interviewed finally had something to say: “I know _you're_ certainly different... but...” She pleaded for an answer now. “Why did you do this?”  
  
Megumi chuckled, but ignored the question. “Maybe I am different. I mean, I never thought I'd use those... _animals_ to set up this little reunion. Something tells me you are too.”  
  
Her aura spiked, blue with a fringe of purple, sending Mio's left hand to her sword.  
  
“You're going to...”  
  
“Why don't you show me, Mio-chan? Show me your conviction, and your power!”  
  
She charged.  
  
“You really are.”  
  
The ravenette pulled out Elizabeth, a wavering resonance between them.  
  
The duel began.  
  
 _Why, Megumi?_

* * *

“HAH!”  
  
With a battle cry, a flame blasted into an oni's face. The same fist that threw it quickly penetrated the burn victim's heart, melting it and the surrounding flesh.  
  
Ritsu ripped out her hand, shaking off the blood—not that it mattered, the heat of her cursed arm turning it to vapor.  
  
“Geez, just how many of these bastards are there?”  
  
Apparently, plenty, as they continued to crowd around her. Their tactic was pretty reckless, what with her deadly left hook wiping out one or two, but even the liveliest girl in the band could tire.  
  
Deflecting one swing of a sword, roasting the arm attached, and, with a wave of her own weapon, releasing an arc of fire at him and the nearby brutes took a lot out of her.  
  
But if her opponents pushed on, so would she.  
  
Next up was a quartet, one with a club, not that she cared. She clenched a fist, the air seeming to haze around it. Grabbing the elbow's opposite side with her right hand, she thrust forward. With a spark, a fist-sized but compact ball of flame rushed into an enemy, a round from a supernatural shotgun.  
  
The club holder found himself missing the left side of his head.  
  
She kept her arm outstretched; with one, two, three shots, a trio of ash piles joined the rest.  
  
“Ha! Finally worked this time- _ngh!_ ” Maybe the left arm itself was near-numb ever since that day, but the pain of recoil could still sting the rest of her body. New moves took getting used to.  
  
She took a breath. A second to loosen out the kinks and she'd be on her-  
  
“RAAAAAAAAH!”  
  
“Huh-”  
  
 **BOOM.**  
  
Floating...  
  
…  
  
 **CRACK!**  
  
…  
  
Pain.  
  
Muscle-tearing, bone-jarring, ear-ringing pain was all on her mind, in the instant her body met the school's wall. She stumbled out of the girl-sized indent, straining to get her head clear.  
  
Once the double-vision ceased, she could see another oni, his elbow pointed in her direction; as the ringing stopped, the pieces came together: she was the victim of an elbow charge that came at her with the force of a truck.  
  
“Can't believe he-” Her breath hitched from a stinging right side, but she chose not to look at it, “-got the drop on me. Alright then, blue boy...” She screamed out, “HEY, YOU WANNA GO?”  
  
“YAAH!” His running body answered for him, a fist pulled back.  
  
She rushed with her own burning limb. “Fine then, I'll melt right through your hand!”  
  
The punches slammed into each other, a rush of wind flattening the grass around them, but to her surprise, her arm went no further. A closer look revealed why—his right arm was armored from finger to shoulder, almost a metal mirror image of her own, and not even suffering a single scorch mark.  
  
“Aw dangi-”  
  
Ritsu's thoughts stopped again when the oni's other fist crashed into her abdomen, lifting her off her feet. The armored appendage proceeded to send the brunette back down to earth.  
  
Her body didn't even get to bounce before his hand reared once more...  
  
And came down hard.  
  
 **BOOM.**

* * *

 ****A shiver went down Mio's spine, causing a slack in her guard that Megumi was almost able to exploit, if not for her head leaning back. A hair drifted its way to the floor.  
  
As it fell, the senior's disappointment rose. “What's going on, Mio-chan? Your head isn't in this fight. You've been on the defensive all night.”  
  
“Of course it is.” Elizabeth's wielder was bluffing, of course; she wanted to draw out the truth, not blood... plus, she was shaking off this foreboding sensation...  
  
...that she may have lost something important.  
  
The brunette frowned, figuring it out. “You're thinking about _them_ , aren't you?”  
  
It was barely perceptible, but Mio flinched.  
  
“See?” Megumi saw it, and went for a mighty upward swing. “They hold you _back_!”  
  
 _CLANG!_  
  
The junior blocked the attack, her bones shaking from the clash, but her chest was just open enough for a kick. “My old team did the same, you know. I was too busy looking over my shoulder for them.”  
  
Mio quickly rolled and recovered. Her eyes widened as a theory emerged. “Did you...?”  
  
“What? Try to kill them?” Megumi caught on. “Don't be silly. I couldn't do that to them. They weren't _totally_ useless. They at least took care of the small fry for me. I guess they couldn't handle doing that all the time, so they left...” She shrugged. “...or maybe it was something else. There may have been three of us, but we weren't really all that close.”  
  
Mio moved forward, her three strikes blocked almost lazily, the third locking them in place. “So, what about the four of us?” She probed as she tried to push onward, but gained little ground. “Was all of your image, how kind you were to everyone... to me...”  
  
She could still remember the smiles her senior would give her after their spars, each one a boost to her spirits after every loss...  
  
“...Was all of that a lie?”  
  
“Not all of it, Mio-chan. Not all of it.” The brunette surprised her junior as she pushed back. “Since day one, you fascinated me. Not Tsumugi, not Yui... and definitely not _her_ ,” she didn't even like to speak that girl's name, “You. We're sisters of the sword, and we both have the drive to get stronger. I saw a little of me in you. How could we not connect, when we're so alike?”  
  
She shoved Mio off, starting a rhythm of one-handed swipes.  
  
“But maybe we're not so alike.” _Clang clang clang clang._ “You don't have the same feeling I do when we clash. You don't even want to cut me, do you?”  
  
Rather than reveal the truth, she continued to pry it from her. “Why do _you_ want to cut _me_ , Megumi? This makes no sense!”  
  
“Must I repeat myself? You're special to me, Mio-chan!” She leaped back, breaking the lock; it was all as if she was toying with her. “When I trained with you, when I fought with you, when I was on the other side fighting for my life... to this very day, you were on my mind. Seeing you again was all I really wanted.”  
  
“So... all this was to fight me?” If not for the risk to her life, she'd have stood there dumbly. “What's happening out there, these yōkai I've cut down, why I can't feel anything from the team...” The thought of what that meant made her blood run cold, and she struggled to ignore it. “All of this is because... you're _obsessed_ with me?”  
  
“Obsessed? Well that's a strong word. I mean, I know I want to swing my sword down on all of you for abandoning me, but at the same time,” her face softened, “I just want you right here beside me.” She put a finger to her chin, pouting. “It's all sort of mixed, really.”  
  
The gray-eyed girl's brow furrowed, emotions mixed within her as well: confusion, betrayal, anger, worry...  
  
But for the moment, one managed to prevail over all:  
  
Disgust.  
  
“You're insane.”  
  
“I... don't quite know what I am...” For an instant, Mio thought she saw that student that taught her two years ago, also disgusted of what she had become...  
  
...but she shook it off. She had to remember that that old Megumi was an illusion.  
  
“...but I know you're weaker as long as you stay with them.” The world-crosser looked from the ōdachi to the katana. “Your sword, your soul, just isn't as keen.  
  
“Is it me, I wonder?” The brunette blade mistress' head tilted in curiosity. “Is that it? Are you afraid to hurt your dear senpai?” She had an idea. “I wonder if that would change if the rest of them died?”  
  
Mio's body became stone.  
  
“My little army is probably mashing them into paste as we speak, you know.”  
  
The noirette began to shake as the images came to mind.  
  
“Yui... Tsumugi...”  
  
Her steel eyes shadowed.  
  
“...Ritsu.”  
  
Megumi found herself jumping out of the way of blue-and-silver energy-laced air, a wave that ripped up the wooden floor as it blasted past.  
  
Mio had Elizabeth retreat into her sheath, the glow disappeared.  
  
“Ooh, the **Path of Destruction**.” She whistled. “It seems I struck a nerve!”  
  
“I don't know if this truly is the real you, or if you actually got worse in your time over there.” Mio glared, her voice soft, but strengthening. “At this point, I don't care anymore. But I do know this...”  
 ****

* * *

**“Ricchan... I'm so sorry.” A ravenette sobbed at her bed's right side. “It's all because of me.”  
  
Technically, her parents had a hand in it; in a town not far from Sakuragaoka's location, an infestation of fire-based yokai, ape-like creatures with bodies of fur and magma, was exterminated by the Akiyama duo. Among those saved, the Tainaka family was quite grateful, and offered to do any favor in return.  
  
It seems the husbands had crossed paths before, having been friends in college (yes, even monster hunters got educations), and the Akiyamas called up the favor soon enough: for their daughter Mio to stay with the Tainakas instead of with a babysitter during the long missions, so she wouldn't be lonely.  
  
Ritsu spoke loudly to the shy left-handed girl with the pretty hair, and they'd been friends ever since.  
  
But now, the actions of the Akiyama girl's parents had come back to haunt her.  
  
One of the beasts escaped, sleeping and healing for years in the caves of the mountains not far from the small town. It craved revenge for the rest of its clan, remembering the face and name of the humans who killed it.  
  
When it saw her, saw the features of the male and female in their child, it acted on its rage, biting and injecting its fiery poison into the only obstacle between it and vengeance.  
  
It lost the battle to a sharp rock smashing its skull, but still left its mark, which Ritsu held now under the wrappings.  
  
Mio wouldn't know the history behind this attack for another two days, when her parents returned, but knew this: “If I wasn't so scared and didn't freeze up like I always do, I could've run, or kicked him off you, or... or...” She sniffed, and mustered up some bravery. “Or I could've fought him myself!”  
  
“Fight him yourself...” Her hair loose after getting up from bed not long ago, it veiled Ritsu's eyes as she contemplated such a thing...  
  
until she laughed in Mio's face.  
  
“HAHAHA!  That's not like you, Mio.” She informed her of the universal law. “Everybody knows you're the shy one, and I'm the brave one!”  
  
The noirette's mood plummeted further, but she took a stand anyway.  
  
“But... But I wanna be brave too!” She begged. “And I want to be strong, like you! Then...” Her voice fell to a murmur. “Then you won't have to get hurt again for someone like me.”  
  
“Huh? Somebody like you?” Ritsu's eyebrow raised. “But I like you!” She smiled. “You're my best friend!”  
  
The other girl snapped, “I'm your only friend.”  
  
“That makes you extra special!” The brunette raised her left arm. “And this is special too, cuz I got it saving you! It's like a battle scar!”  
  
Ritsu's words made Mio's heart feel... warm, light, fluffy—but that arm! She could barely resist staring, the mere sight of the limb weighing her emotions back down.  
  
“Your arm is all messed up because of the poison.” She explained. “I heard the special doctors say you can't ever take it off.” She quaked with emotion. “If you do, you could die...”  
  
“But Mio-”  
  
“YOU COULD DIE, RICCHAN!” She let it out. “BECAUSE OF ME, YOU COULD DIE!”  
  
Ritsu hated seeing Mio cry. She usually solved that problem by punching whoever messed with her, but this was different. The only thing she could think of was beating up another one of those monst-  
  
She had an idea.  
  
“Ne, Mio...” The noirette's head raised as she wiped away a tear. “My arm's got some kinda power, right? Cuz, well.. I can feel something different about it.”  
  
“Yeah, I guess so.” She almost froze up then, when Ritsu first stirred in her sleep, then started to scream... “You almost set your whole room on fire.”  
  
“And I can still use the arm, right?” She wiggled the fingers, moved the whole limb around.  
  
“Yeah...” Mio was still unsure where she was going with this.  
  
“Well then... I'm gonna use it!”  
  
She shot from her chair. “WHAT?”  
  
“Mmhm!” She nodded. “I bet there are all kinds o' things like that monkey out there, and I'll kill 'em all with this.”  
  
“What are you gonna do? You're just a kid!”  
  
“Not when I'm grown up,” she countered. “And by then, I'll be a hero, so nobody else gets this if they don't want one.”  
  
“But what if-”  
  
Ritsu suddenly grabbed the shy one's hand and looked straight into her friend's eyes, the latter unable to look away before such determination.  
  
“S'okay, Mio!”  
  
Despite the bandaged cuts and scratches on her face and legs, despite the sweat on the mattress, despite the gauze from shoulder to finger, she flexed a bicep and gave a big grin.**

* * *

The oni stood aghast as the ground rumbled. A red-orange energy gushed forth from the hole, the crater now resembling a volcano.  
  
A demon emerged from the eruption. Her body was engulfed in the flame-like aura, the blood on her cuts sizzling and evaporating. Most blood came from her right side, the dislocated, deadened arm she carelessly jammed back into place by the rock-like left limb. Once lacking a hand, it had bent and warped until the missing piece was restored, but still seemed to stir, infrequently spiking as the currents madly coursed under the surface.  
  
Her broken headband left behind, her hair shot skyward. Her eyes were nothing but whites, the power cloaking her seemingly acting beyond her will.  
  
The oni refused to defer to this reborn foe; he came at her again, fist reared for one more strike.  
  
She calmly outstretched her left hand...

* * *

**“As long as I got this arm, I'm not gonna die!”**

* * *

… and caught his right with no effort.  
  
“Impossible!” was all he could call his metal arm turning to slag before his eyes. “M-m-my arm is... unbreakable!”  
  
He was too shocked to move the other, making him an easy target-  
  
“No...”  
  
-for when she inhaled-  
  
“NoooOOOOOOO!”  
  
-and screamed out a torrent of fire.

* * *

“...They'll survive.” She pointed her katana to the enemy. “And so will I.”  
  
“Oh? You're so sure?” Megumi certainly wasn't. “Didn't I tell you hope was pointless? What, did you make some childish promise too?”  
  
“A promise...” Mio smirked. “Yes, we did, Ritsu and I.”  
  
Megumi's smile may have helped her through her first year of hunting, but Ritsu's very presence had helped her through the past eight years of her life. Mio wouldn't give that time up for anything, and she wanted to share more with her. That meant getting stronger—not just for herself, but for the both of them.  
  
“Ugh, _her_.” The senior muttered. “She always got between us. Always asking questions, always wondering if she could have a few rounds with me... damn tomboy didn't know how to ask nicely either.” A tiny grin came to the older brunette's face as she imagined giving her an attitude adjustment. “If she's not dead already, I think I'm gonna handle her my-”  
  
It would seem she didn't learn after the first time she spoke of Ritsu that way; with those words, her junior was in her face.  
  
Suppressing a gasp, Megumi shielded herself, the subsequent blows coming faster and faster. Somewhere in the middle, she managed to catch the shine in the steel orbs glaring her way, and her maddened, slightly frightened heart filled with glee.  
  
“There it is...”  
  
The swords were nothing more than blurs as they both picked up the pace.  
  
“That's it!”  
  
The ringing of weapon against weapon was near-constant now, but the the brown-eyed blade-wielder was too excited to hear it.  
  
“Your conviction!”  
  
Megumi got out first, the smallest blast of spirit energy, blue with a hint of purple on the fringe, blasting her feet back. She decided to use a little more: with a pulse, the air rippled, and duplicates of the former queen of the school appeared.  
  
“I'm so happy to see it, Mio-chan!”  
  
Mio matched her, the team five to five.  
  
The **Path of Confusion** lay before them both.  
  
“I'm getting really sick of you calling me that.”  
  
Brown and black streaks crashed into each other, launching themselves from the floor, the walls, and even the ceiling. With every collision, the sounds of metal to metal sang. Drops of blood scattered on the surfaces, any pretense of defense dropped the minute they started this new dance, made this new music.  
  
Two minutes later, both girls came back down to earth. With Megumi already having appeared battle-worn, one might be unable to notice her damage at first glance. Still, her old jacket-cape looked like it sported a few more holes, and a few red lines marred her arms and a leg. The bang in the center of her forehead was also in pieces. Mio, meanwhile, found the forearm of her right jacket sleeve in tatters, and the most troublesome blow was received over her left eye, the blood she stubbornly swiped away with her good sleeve before it obscured her vision.  
  
The former mentor's chest heaved as her body demanded air, the gasps breaking her speech. “Done... already, Mio-chan? You can... still... join me, you know. One... chance, before this ends.”  
  
The Akiyama suffered from the same affliction. “About... two years ago, I might have... loved that. But... tonight,” her eyes became steel slits. “I'd rather die.”  
  
The world-walker grew incensed. The only one in years to ever show her a challenge, to earn her eye in more ways than one, and Mio spat in her face?  
  
“Fine then...”  
  
She rushed towards the object of her affection-turned-ire, her longsword hungry for another bite of flesh.  
  
“I'll make that happen!”  
  
Mio placed her katana back in its sheath, but her hold on the handle stayed. Curiously, Elizabeth's container was detached from her master's waist.  
  
“I do have... conviction, Megumi...” Her breath steadied. “And I have power too. Just enough left to defeat you.”  
  
The ex-leader saw her replacement take a step.  
  
Then she was gone, causing the senior to halt her run.  
  
“What?”  
  
She would have looked around to search, but her body suddenly failed to listen to her commands.  
  
That sword going through her back may have had something to do with it.  
  
“I finally figured it out, Megumi.” A whisper came to the wounded girl's ears. “I suppose I owe it all to you. If you hadn't have pushed me to my limit tonight, I might not have had to do it.”  
  
Her brown eyes widened.  
  
“You really did it...”  
  
The foreign energy trapped in her body burst away, a sextet of lines breaking the floor from the epicenter; an overhead view would appear to make out a six-point star.  
  
Mio finished it for her. “The **Six-Path Strike**.”  
  
Megumi's legs succumbed to gravity, then the upper body followed. As her head kissed the ground, she was just aware enough to realize there wasn't as much of a pool of blood as there should be.  
  
“You used... the blunt end?” She managed to groan out.  
  
“I never did like blood.” The gray-eyed girl flipped the blade back around. “Besides, if I cut you up too badly, I don't think the others will believe me when I tell them this.”  
  
The second she heard the _click_ of sword and sheath, blackness swept over the swordswoman Sokabe's mind. She didn't even get to say that her anger was gone, replaced by a strange pride in that her junior had surpassed her.  
  
Mio wouldn't have cared anyway-  
  
-or heard it, as her exhausted body fell too.  
  
She did not have the strength to look up as a shape retrieved her. Lips moved, but the message was muddled.  
  
“...out of here, and get to work on...”  
  
Her vision blurred, but she swore she saw dozens of... paper men?  
  
 _Oh, right... Sawako-sensei's shikigami._  
  
“...orry, Mio-chan... be okay soon once... room.”  
  
 _Be... okay?_ Even her thoughts were tired. _I guess it's safe enough to get some rest, then..._  
  
She claimed her reward: a few hours of sleep.  
  


* * *

“How is she?”  
  
They had finally returned to the homeroom, Mugi having done her work on them all; it had taken longer than usual to heal the others, since she expended much of her energy to keep one of the girls from death.  
  
“She'll live.” Sawako spoke solemnly, her glasses off as she rubbed her temples. Thank the gods for leftover tea; she and the band currently drank it to take the edge off.  
  
Ritsu looked over, her arm once again in bandages, having had multiple copies of the same seal in reserve from yet another “colleague” of Mio's parents. “She hasn't left her side this whole time.”  
  
Indeed, a large cat lay to Yui's right, only the team's healer able to get close enough without facing growls. The flames on her tails had dimmed, but her anger and anxiety would never truly end until-  
  
“Mmmh.”  
  
“YUI!” The crowd moved together, but one already took the lead: the feline watching the patient's upper half rise.  
  
Chocolate orbs opened, blinking frequently to clear up the images. She eventually managed to center on a big shadow with a pair of slitted eyes, eyes that seemed... familiar...  
  
“Azu... nyan?”  
  
The shadow pounced, changing shape in mid-air. Yui felt a weight plow her back into the bed. “Oof!”  
  
“Oh, she shouldn't be so rough with her!” Mugi worried, about to get up from her seat. “Yui-chan's wounds are still healing and-”  
  
A hand settled on her shoulder, from none other than their favorite teacher. “Just let them be, Mugi-chan.”  
  
The hairclipped brunette finally sat up again, looking down to something wrapping its arms around her torso. The new girl's hair was long enough to fall down to cloak her unclothed body, her head deep in Yui's chest. The sound was muffled, but the upbeat upperclassman still heard a name only one person ever called her.  
  
“Yui... senpai.”  
  
“Hi, Azu-nyan.” Yui stroked her junior's head to soothe her heart. “Was I gone long?”  
  
“Too long, senpai.” She muttered with a voice made hoarse with happy tears. “I thought I'd never see you again.”  
  
Her arm looped around the kitten kōhai's shoulders, pulling her in. “Sorry for making you so sad.”  
  
“I'm sure you are.” Her voice tried hard to affirm itself. “And that's why I want you to do something in return.”  
  
She shoved herself back from the archer's embrace, took a deep breath... and screamed.  
  
“TELL ME YOU WILL NEVER DO SOMETHING SO INSANE EVER AGAIN!” She grabbed Yui's shoulders, looking into her eyes. “Promise me!”  
  
The formerly injured took a moment to think about it. “Hmm...”  
  
Finally, Azusa would get Yui to act a little more rational for once-  
  
“Nope!”  
  
“...what?” Her jaw hung agape. “But... why?”  
  
The senior's smile was stunning.  
  
“Well, I can't let my Azu-nyan die, can I?”  
  
“Y-y-your... Azu... nuh?” The killer cat of just moments ago was reduced to a babbling mess.  
  
“Hee hee, you're so cute when you're like that!”  
  
Her face was cherry red as it reclaimed a place in Yui's bosom.  
  
“ _Mou..._ What am I going to do with you?”  
  
While Mugi stepped off to the side to get some tissues for a nosebleed she was too otherwise entranced to heal, Mio and Ritsu shared a giggle.  
  
“It almost reminds me of us.” The noirette sat in a chair at the desk-table. She was still a little weak in the knees, but she'd be fine by morning.  
  
“Yeah, except you didn't hug me, though.” She smirked slyly. “I distinctly remember you punching me on the head and calling me 'stupid Ritsu' for promising I wasn't gonna get myself killed using this thing.” She pointed to her wrapped weapon. “That was the first time you ever hit me, wasn't it?”  
  
“You're right. Which reminds me...” Mio prepared a fist and...  
  
 _POW._  
  
“...why? And-” Ritsu touched the new lump on her head, “ _–ow!_ How do you still have enough strength to do that?”  
  
“That's for making me think you were dead.” She chose to pass on the second question, not really knowing the answer herself. “What happened to you back there? I wasn't even using my sense, but I knew something was up. I could feel it.”  
  
“I dunno.” Ritsu realized the time she was talking about. “One minute I was down, then I saw fire, and the next minute, I just... won.” Her voice quieted. “I think I saw you, too.”  
  
“Well,” she was unsure how to respond to that. “I suppose we should both be grateful for that second wind.”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
It was a mystery neither of them would solve tonight, so they let it drop.   
  
Still, they knew they'd have to talk about the other battle eventually, so Ritsu took charge. “So... about Megumi-”  
  
“That chapter of our lives is over.” Mio tried to assure. “The memories, the old her, all of that is gone— _has been_ gone for almost two years. Besides, she's out of our hands now.” According to their teacher, the authorities, and not the usual police, handled her. In fact, Yui was being brought up to speed on the matter right now, her eyes gigantic at the recent events, but soon accepting them for what they were; it always amazed the group how well she could handle new things.  
  
“Glad to hear that, but... are you sure she's out of _your_ hands?” Ritsu attempted to reach out. “If you need to let it out, I'm right here.”  
  
“It's weird, but... I really... _don't._ I'm kind of a little worried about that, if I'm getting a little too cold when it comes to all of this.” The ravennette sighed out that minor frustration. “But you being here means a lot to me.” Her voice softened. “It always has.”  
  
“Well, I think the fact that you're worried means you got plenty of heart left! And, uh...” The amber-eyed loved one scratched the back of her head. “...Thanks. You...” The usually headstrong fighter suddenly couldn't look at her teammate. “You mean a lot to me too.”  
  
 _I hope so,_ Mio thought as she gathered herself for what came next.  
  
“I can thank Megumi for one last thing before I beat her, though.”  
  
A brow raised. “What?” Mio's head bowed, once again, made it hard for Ritsu to read her face.  
  
“She taught me that sometimes, it's okay not to hold back.”  
  
She stood, a little wobbly on her feet. Her friend quickly sprouted up to assist her.  
  
“Whoa, Mio, take it easy! You could hurt your-”  
  
It all stopped.  
  
Her words, the room, her mind, everything melted away but her heart, which pumped like she was in battle all over again, and the girl whose lips made their way onto hers.  
  
When she opened her eyes, she found herself as articulate as another certain student in the room minutes ago.  
  
“...muh?”  
  
“I've been wanting to do that since middle school, but I never had the courage. I was always afraid it would change too much, that it would risk too much.” Ritsu was silent, so she went on. “But I realized tonight that we've always been changing, always taking risks, and I needed to take this plunge before we almost die again.”  
  
The friend and not-a-secret crush still stood there, amber vision shooting into the distance. Her right hand was on her lips, her mind seemingly trying to grasp onto the sensation.  
  
“Well?” Mio grew frustrated as the silence stretched on. “Aren't you going to say something?” Tears threatened to rise. “If you don't feel the same way, just tell—mmph!”  
  
Judging by the kiss that made the grey-eyed girl's knees even weaker, Ritsu handed her feelings back tenfold.  
  
Sawako handed the frozen Mugi more tissues for the new nosebleed.  
  
“I wanted to tell you first, but you beat me to it.” the bandaged brunette explained as the two parted for needed air. “I thought I was supposed to be the brave one?” She gave a fake pout. “I was gonna make a love letter and everything, too.”  
  
“Shut up.” The noirette softly smiled, wrapping her arms around her new girlfriend. “Stupid Ritsu.”  
  
“You're just gonna keep on calling me that, but you still love me, don'tcha?”  
  
“Yes, I will, and yes... I love you, Ritsu.” Her cheeks reddened, the first time she ever said those words, words she never thought would come out in the open.  
  
“Love you too.”  
  
Mio could have leaned on Ritsu forever, tired body or no, but knew that there were others in the room. “We'd better get back to-”  
  
“Hey, Azu-nyan! I just realized—you're naked!”  
  
Quiet.  
  
“...Azu-nyan?”  
  
“Let me guess: Yui and Nakano?”  
  
A sigh. “Yui and Azusa.”  
  
“Azu-nyan, wake up!”  
  
And so the night went, the girls marking another daily mission accomplished. Of course, there would eventually be more yōkai to fight, more skills to learn, and more adventures to have, but none would quite leave a mark on the young hunters like the events of this Monday night. Facing both monsters and their feelings had brought them all a little closer—even Mugi, whose own spirit leaped to see others happy.  
  
They could only be amazed at what Tuesday night would bring...

**END**


End file.
